Hundreds of years ago a small group of Polynesians decided to paddle across the vast ocean sea in their wooden canoes with only the knowledge of the stars and ocean waves to help guide them. Why these people left their native home and for what reason still remains a mystery. However, archaeologists still debate around 400 AD, when they landed on an island they called Rapa Nui. The island is one of the most remote places on earth, and people have marveled at its mysteries for centuries. What we clearly know about the island is that these people made a small, uninhabited place with lush palm trees and rolling hills their new home. When Europeans later discovered the island in 1772, it was given the name of what we now call Easter Island. After landing, what the Europeans discovered around the island were these monolithic statues, carved moai, made of volcanic stone. The giant blocks of stone statues weighed on average about 82 tons and stood 32 feet tall. Who, why, and how these statues were carved and moved is a notable mystery. Archaeologists today still wonder how exactly such primitive people with primitive tools were able to accomplish such a feat that may only take several men and countless days to acquire. In the PBS documentary NOVA Mystery of Easter Island, archaeologists Terry Hunt, Carl Lipo and Patrick Kirch with the help of scientists will try to find out how these statues were actually moved, testing new experiments on a theory that has baffled people. for centuries. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Located off the western coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean, the majestic carved moai statues of Rapa Nui have been a great mystery since Europeans first arrived on the island in the 1700s. When explorers landed around this time, what they found were huge megaliths on a deforested, rock-strewn island with about 3,000 people. On the other hand, archaeologists have proposed that the island was never like this. The island was filled with giant palm forests when the Polynesians first arrived on Easter Island and once looked very different. Furthermore, John Flenley, a pollen expert, explains that there is pollen evidence that suggests there were 25 different species of trees and shrubs that once grew there and reveals that there was a dramatic change on the island as it was deforested. Furthermore, the pollen results strongly indicate that people had destroyed the forest. In fact, Lipo confirms why this island had a palm forest, it is because of the preservation of palm tree roots which tells us it was extensive across the island. Evidence of traces of black lines indicating a path of the roots of the palm trees once created. But some scientists believe that these trees were not cut down for construction or moving, but for one simple reason: it was for agriculture. Furthermore, Kirch adds that these people were farmers and needed to clear the land and the forest was in a sense useless to them. Gardening was more important to them, not the palm trees they couldn't eat. Archaeologist Pat Kirch studies human impact on island ecology and conducted a study on the Mangareva Islands about 1,600 miles away. They are the closest island to Rapa Nui that has striking similarities. Both Rapa Nui and Mangareva Island were deforested and both had large populations of seabirds that once fertilized the soil. And on both islands the people killed and ate almost everyonethe birds. The elimination of seabirds was the key factor preventing the forest from regenerating. People also cut and burned trees, thus endangering the forest as well. Rat species from Asia have also played a role in deforestation. Wildlife biologist William Pitt tells us that when rats were introduced to the island, they had no predators. Furthermore, with the abundance of resources, rats exploded into millions consuming large quantities of food which were palms and palm seeds, seeds that would generate new forests. Upon examination, Polynesians from islands near Easter Island helped scientists unravel a mystery about the island's past. The forest was likely wiped out by human impacts from logging and fires, the decimation of seabird populations, and the introduction of a rat population that exploded into the millions, devouring palms and walnuts. The transportation of statues is perhaps the most important contribution of this culture to humanity says Sergio Rapu Haoa, born and raised in Rapa Nui who was governor of the island for six years and also an archaeologist. He has long theorized the idea that the statues were moved upright. Hunt and Lipo tested the hypothesis and based on their research, the movement in vertical walking explains a systematic variation in moai found on ancient roads, in quarries and on platforms called “ahu”. To test their proposal, the moai were moved vertically, they precisely scaled a 5-ton street statue similar to the real one, and showed experimentally how with relatively few people it is possible to achieve movement by walking. This is a great example of how experimental archeology is used in research. Experimental archeology is the scientific method of determining how artifacts or items were made and used. Furthermore, in the past modern experiments on moving moai began earlier, documents showing that they were moved on wood in a prone or supine position rolled on logs. Furthermore, better understanding how multi-ton moai were moved remains important to the island's prehistory. Prehistoric archeology can be seen throughout the documentary. It is the reconstruction of human behavior through the study of material remains, without documents involved. For example, like the sharp-edged obsidian found scattered throughout the island, some say that these people used the tool for warfare and other things such as carving wood, hard materials, and plant materials. But, after studying 500 Rapa Nui remains, they also found that these obsidians had been inserted into the human skull and that enough of the bones showed some kind of injury or trauma, significantly these people were in a place of constant conflict. Furthermore, they found and studied prehistoric roads built as routes for transporting the moai that can be seen visible with satellite imagery. Another type of archeology can be seen when archaeologists studied the Polynesian people on the nearby island to recreate how the ancient Rapa Nui might have lived. Ethnoarchaeology is what we call this type of archaeology, the study of what living people leave behind and the recreation of ancient behaviors. Statue traditions were brought by travelers from Polynesia to Rapa Nui. Carved wooden statues and stone figures are common throughout Polynesia, but they look nothing like the moai of Rapa Nui. Moai statues were cut from volcanic tufts or porous stone made from volcanic ash. Almost all moai were initially carved inside a huge quarry inside one of three extinct volcanoes.The way they carved the moai starts with the face and then the body. For people it's like waking up statues from a rock. Artist Umi Kai shows how they carve the statues and to do so the carvers used a very dense stone tool made of basalt. Furthermore, Umi explains that to cut a design one must follow the tuft and, using a replica of the same ancient tool, called a “Toki”, carves a small version of an eye socket into the tuft. After the moai was carved and completed, the back would still be attached to the bedrock with a keel. Then, the rock is drilled out and the keel will eventually be removed and replaced by loose rock that will be added to the back of the moai so that it remains floating when the rock is cut.rock and freed from the parent rock. After completing this process, they will slide it down and prop it up at the bottom of the hill and finish carving the back. At this point, the moai will be ready to be moved to a sacred platform known to be a religious ritual called "ahu". According to several theories, the islanders used logs to move the moai. While this may be true, the problem with this theory is that it is not based on evidence seen on the statues themselves, the moai, and the streets. Furthermore, the clues on the roads tell a different story. After investigating the theory, they found that there are several roads that started from the quarry and ran through the center of the island, the roads were used to move the moai to every corner of the island. According to their oral traditions, moai were carved to represent the spirits of the islanders' ancestors, they are the loving face of their ancestors. To appear alive, they inlaid eyes on the statues and some statues had a red stone hat or topknot called "pukao". Easter Island's ancient Polynesians carved nearly 1,000 enormous moai statues from volcanic tuff bedrock and transported roadside landscapes across the rugged landscape to the island's monumental sites. In fact, many methods have been proposed to test the movement of moai. After examining the prehistoric roads, they were built specifically for the transportation of moai. The roads provided physical information regarding the movement of the statues. For example, Hunt and Lipo examined nearly 20 miles of roads using satellite imagery and were able to see key features of how statues were moved that might be on hillsides. They measured and confirmed the findings that the roads had a maximum rise of three degrees when going uphill, and a maximum of six degrees when going downhill, which was a crucial clue as to how they might have been moved. Ultimately, the evidence that could be found was actually on the statues themselves, which were designed to be moved. Furthermore, in order to walk the moai, they had to test the theory. In doing so, they made the most precise replica of a moai ever made and collected data from the moai, embedded it in thousands of photos and fed it into 3D modeling software. The replica statue stood at 10 feet tall and weighed 5 tons, the average of most moai on the island. Hunt and Lipo named the statue Hotu It, a tribute to the island's first legendary ruler. The program shows that a lot of scientific work has been done that fits the phases of an archaeological project. The archaeologist created a research project in an attempt to demonstrate how the monumental moai were moved. Explain transportation through open debate and speculation, including its role in deforestation and resource spending. With archaeological analysis and evidence of moai variability,..